Musical Humor

  Well, everyone, it's February. And where I live, February means a lot of snow, ice, and overcast skies. Everyone can use a good laugh when it's dreary outside, so I've compiled a post of humorous music-related videos that'll make those overcast skies fade into space (pun intended).       Leonard Bernstain (and a …

The Art of Fugue

I speak for the whole of the music community when I say that fugues are daunting things. They feature multiple melodic lines, take a lot of time to perfect, and, let's be honest, they're really confusing. Fortunately, I have some good news. There is a secret to learning (and understanding!) fugues. That secret is structure and …

Warming Up (for violinists)

There are a couple of things I've learned since I started playing the violin. One of those things is the importance of warming up. By "warming up," I mean setting aside 5-10 minutes at the beginning of my practice session to fire up my brain and limber up my muscles. Today, I'm going to tell …

Musical Forms, Part I

Have you ever considered what the term allemande actually means? Or ballade? Nocturne? Gavotte? These are, in essence, templates for a piece - musical forms. The waltz is the most well-known form; everyone knows waltzes always have three beats to the measure. All these other pieces—allemandes, nocturnes, gavottes—are forms too, but we aren't so familiar with them. …

20 Iconic Works of Classical Music

"Oh, I recognize that piece!" There are some classical pieces that have not only made their way into the musician's repertoire but have also become popular in modern society. Maybe you've heard some of these pieces in movies, advertisements, or TV shows. I think you'll have heard most of them - if not all!  Sidenote: I know all the …

On Rhythm and Meter

This week, I was going to post on musical forms such as the symphony, gavotte, etc, but I soon realized that that post would have quite a bit of meter in there. Meter is kind of a tricky concept to grasp—I didn't fully understand it for a long time, myself—so I thought it would be …

An Intriguing Bach

A few months ago, I posted a collection of intriguing bits of information about Mozart.(You can read that post here.) My post consisted of several sections, including quotes by and about Mozart, some fun stories about him, and of course, a selection of his most beloved music. Today, I'm going to post along those same lines, …

What to Do When You’re Drowning in Music

Do you ever come home from a lesson and just want to collapse? You have four pieces in progress, one you're trying to polish for a concert, and now your teacher just gave you a new one. Where on earth are you supposed to start? It's never easy to have a big workload, but here …

My Top 6 Exercises and Stretches for Musicians

Musicians are stuck in relatively unnatural positions for hours at a time nearly every day, so it's no wonder we have aches and pains sometimes! I thought it was time for a post on some stretches to ease your pain, so here it is - my top six exercises and stretches to help you improve …

10 Modern Melodies

Recently, Maggie and I got to talking about modern music - specifically, beautiful modern melodies. We agreed that film scores have greatly contributed to the "melody" world - and then there are the pieces that have pretty melodies but sound "film-y". A couple relatively modern composers have written beautiful melodies - Charles Ives and Samuel …